Taking Sides
by kellythefangirl
Summary: At sixteen, James Potter just wants to worry about Quidditch, Lily Evans, and occasionally, school. But he and his friends can tell that there's something coming-even without a certain professor's cryptic warnings. They know that they'll have to take sides sooner or later-no matter what the consequences.
1. Chapter 1

James Potter wasn't used to disappointment. That was obvious. He was definitely spoiled, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team (which hadn't lost a single match since he joined, except for once when he was in the hospital wing), and could get any girl in the entire school. At least, that was what everyone thought until fifth year when the Lily Evans problems started.

And Remus was seriously sick of his friend's moaning. He was about ready to slap him in the face if he wouldn't shut up about her stupid eyes and her hair and her everything else (Remus shuddered), and Sirius and Peter felt the same. Of course, neither of them would ever say it, because Peter worshipped James and Sirius didn't want to fight with his best friend. But honestly, Remus would. And he just might very soon.

Because it had been a year, and this was getting ridiculous.

"James, we get it. Lily's very pretty," Remus finally said one day after they'd been sitting under a tree for two hours and James had been talking about her for almost as long.

"Pretty? She's not just pretty!" James exclaimed from the other side of the trunk, sticking out his neck to stare in shock at his friend. Remus sighed.

"Yes, she's beautiful. Shut up," Remus said.

"Mary MacDonald," Sirius coughed audibly from next to James. Peter quickly stifled laughter as Remus glared at all three of them.

"That's different. I don't go on and on about her."

"Yeah, whatever you say, Moony," James said, smirking. "I seem to remember a certain Valentine's Day last year. How long were we up that night, Padfoot?"

"I'd say till four at least, Prongs," Sirius said, smiling. Remus sighed.

"It was toward the end of the cycle, you know how I get," he whispered.

"That's your excuse? It was that time of the month?" Sirius asked him and James burst out laughing. Remus went red and took out his Transfiguration book, beginning to read and attempting to ignore them.

"Ew, studying," James complained.

"Professor Dumbledore'll have your head if you don't finish the homework," Remus said.

"Dumbledore loves me, I'll just make something up," James said. He had absolutely no respect for authority—though he did harbor a tiny bit of affection for the old, kindly Transfiguration professor. Most of their year was still in awe of him from the History of Magic lesson last month—the only time Binns didn't put them to sleep was when he talked about Grindelwald's battle with Dumbledore.

"Yeah, that won't work forever, James," Remus said.

"Shut it, Moony, I'm fine. Got an E on my OWL, what more do you want?"

Remus sighed. "That's not the point—" he began, but James cut him off with a Quieting Charm. Remus gestured wildly in protest as he ran up to Lily and Sirius and Peter snickered at him.

"Hi, Evans," he said, grinning like a madman. She pushed him aside and continued walking. "Come on, I'm just saying hi," he complained.

"Mm-hm," she said shortly. "And I'm saying good-bye, Potter." And she walked faster away from him.

"Come on, why won't you just talk to me?" he yelled after her.

"Because you disgust me," she called back to him.

"And Snivellus doesn't?" he asked incredulously. She turned around with murder in her eyes and he quickly backed away, back to their tree. Even James knew that Lily could take him. There was no argument. Remus grinned smugly, and James glared at him as he restored his voice to normal.

"Thanks," Remus said, slightly annoyed. "Why don't you just give up? She's never going to think of you that way, she never has."

James sighed and leaned back against the tree. "You don't understand, Moony. Evans is different."

"Right, just like Anna Mills was different, and Jamie Drury, and..." Sirius continued to list James's previous girlfriends as his face grew redder and redder until he finally jumped on top of his friend and they wrestled briefly before sitting back down, laughing, anger quickly forgotten. Remus sighed. Why on Earth did he associate with these people?

"Why do I even talk to you?" he asked them.

"Aw, Moony, you love us," James said with a dorky smile.

"Plus we know about your condition," Sirius said. "If you aren't nice to us, who knows who we'd tell?"

Remus looked shocked, but he knew he was kidding. "That's blackmail, Black," he said. Sirius winced at the sound of his last name. Remus had forgotten about his family and he smiled apologetically.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

"It's fine, mate. Can we go inside now? I'm getting bored," Sirius complained.

"Yeah, it's kinda cold out here," Peter said, shivering as if to prove his point. Remus agreed—it was October and Hogwarts was slowly starting to descend into the winter temperatures. Right now, though, it just rained a lot.

"Yeah, let's go in," James agreed, and the four of them walked back to the castle.


	2. Chapter 2

When they entered the Hall, people were just coming in for lunch—it was Saturday, but most people had been studying all morning for the Transfiguration test on Monday, something Remus had _tried_ to do...

They all sat at the Gryffindor table near the door and Peter and Sirius immediately started to devour the food in front of them.

"Honestly, Sirius, do you ever stop eating?" Marlene, a rather short girl with dark curly hair and bright blue eyes, asked him.

Sirius grinned up at his girlfriend and said, "Nope," through a mouthful of some type of sandwich and she shuddered.

"What do you see in him?" Mary MacDonald, the blond, pretty girl that Remus actually _did_ like but wouldn't ever actually admit to the others, asked her. Remus almost choked on his first bite of food—of course, there was no way he would be able to eat in peace ever—and James hit him hard on the back before starting to laugh after he was sure that he was all right. Remus glared at him as he finished coughing. "Are you all right, Remus?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he wheezed, eyes watering. "I just... you startled me a little."

"Oh," she said, slightly uncomfortably. They sort of stared at each other for a while before James whistled and they both turned to glare at him.

"The tension was unbearable," James said in explanation.

"Yeah, honestly, Prongs, we should just lock them in a broom closet and see what happens," Sirius agreed.

"You could use a good snog, Moony," James said.

"Would you shut it, Potter?" Remus said, his face burning.

"Oh, I second that," a voice said from behind them, and it was James's turn to choke on food as Lily Evans walked up to her friends. "Guys, we aren't really going to sit here, are we?"

"Come on, why not?" Marlene asked. "You never let us anywhere near them, and I do have a boyfriend for a reason, you know."

"Ugh, fine," Lily said, sounding resigned, and the three girls sat down across from them.

"So what did you boys do this morning?" Mary asked them, smiling at Remus. He quickly became very interested in pumpkin juice. James noticed and smirked yet again. He swore he was going to slap him.

"Sat under a tree, actively avoided studying, James tripped over himself trying to stalk Lily, nothing new," Sirius said.

"That was impressively accurate, Padfoot," Remus said as James's face turned red and the girls all laughed, Lily especially.

"Honestly, I don't know if I can study any more, my head's about to burst," Mary said. "I mean, I know I should, but..."

"Well, how about we show you something after lunch?" James asked them. "For a little break, maybe?"

"Hey, Prongs, look," Sirius said, gesturing across the table behind the girls. James looked and frowned.

"What're they looking at?" he asked, and the girls turned to look behind them. Snape, along with his friends, Avery and Mulciber, who were legitimately the scariest children on the planet, were staring right at them from the Slytherin table. James raised his eyebrows in a kind of challenge and they looked away, whispering to each other.

"God, they're creepy," Marlene shuddered. "Honestly, Lily, why on Earth do you talk to Snape?"

"Sev's different around them than he is with me," Lily said defensively. "He's nice, they just aren't and he's trying to fit in."

"Well, if you ask me, Snivellus isn't exactly innocent," Sirius said. "There's rumors he's way into the Dark Arts, Lily."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Peter said nervously. "Found him in the library once. Muttering to himself. Some kind of incantation. Really scary."

"He just repeats what he reads out loud so he can remember it," Lily said. "He's told me that a million times."

"You believe those crap excuses?" James asked in disbelief.

"You know what, Potter, I am getting a little tired—no, actually, a lot tired—of you being so against him for no reason," Lily said, glaring across the table at him. "Stop insulting him or you'll regret it."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," James said, smirking again. Lily groaned in frustration.

"Ugh, you know I could hex you on the spot, Potter," she warned him.

"Yeah, but I also know you won't," he said.

"And why is that?"

"Because you're in love with me and you absolutely refuse to admit it," he said.

She snorted. "Yeah, all right. Sure. Keep telling yourself that. I'm taking my lunch outside." And with that, she picked up her plate and walked right into the entrance hallway and out the front doors onto the grounds.

"Great job, Prongs," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "Is that how you get girls?"

"Shut it, Padfoot," James muttered, ignoring them as he ate considerably more aggressively. The others looked at each other with small smiles.

"So," Remus said loudly, trying to break the silence that was growing increasingly more awkward. "What did you want to show them, James?"

James perked up then and smiled. "Well, let me finish eating, Moony," he said, "but Mary, Marlene, you'll like this."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hellooooo! I'm Kelly, I hope you like it so far, and obviously I don't own anything, and enjoy!**

"Where exactly are we going, James?" Marlene finally asked.

"Yeah, Prongs, where are you dragging us?" Remus asked, grunting as they climbed the ninth staircase. James was in serious danger of being punched yet again.

"You haven't figured it out yet, Moony? I thought you were the smart one," James teased, and Remus shoved him into the banister. "Hey, I'm only kidding!"

"Yeah, yeah, just get us to wherever we're going, please," Remus muttered. Peter nodded enthusiastically in agreement, huffing and puffing at the level of exertion they were undergoing. James stopped at a statue and smiled. Remus's eyes widened.

"Oh, no way, James!" Remus protested.

"Why not, Moony? Calm down! It's not like Marlene and Mary are going to tell," Sirius said, not at all comforting the very angry Remus.

"This is secret for a reason! We can't have the whole bloody school knowing about it!" Remus exclaimed.

"Sirius is right. They aren't going to tell anyone, are you, ladies?" James asked politely.

"Um, no... tell anyone about what exactly?" Marlene asked, clearly taken aback. "It's just a statue."

"What's the password again, Padfoot?" James asked Sirius.

"I don't remember, and we aren't using the... invention around them, that really should stay secret," Sirius said in a whisper. "Wormtail made it up. Come on, mate, password." Peter trudged up the last couple of steps and whispered a word that even Remus couldn't make out—though he knew what he'd said, unlike his friends, _he_ didn't forget crucial passwords—and the statue moved aside to reveal a long passageway that seemed to have no light at the end.

"Where does it end?" Mary asked with a small squeak.

"Well, you can't see the end, it's ten floors down," James said.

"Then how the hell are we going to get through?" Marlene asked.

"You jump," Sirius told her.

"Oh, no way, Sirius, this is something you cannot make me do. I don't care how many times you've been right about things I've been scared to do. It doesn't mean that I'm going to jump into a black pit—"

She didn't get to finish, because Sirius jumped down into the passage, waving goodbye as he went.

"Oh, my God!" she shrieked. "Sirius!"

There was no response. Remus shook his head. That was low—even for him. James gave them a little smile and jumped, too.

Remus sighed and told her, "He's fine," before jumping as well. He slid down the perfectly fine slide that only dropped straight down for about six feet and then made a gradual incline down to the ground. He almost slid right into Sirius and James, who were sitting at the base of the slope, laughing silently. "What are you doing?" he asked them.

"Shut up, she might hear us!" James whispered as Peter came barreling into Remus.

"Ugh, what have you been eating, Wormtail?" he moaned, struggling to stand back up.

"Hey!"

"Shut it, both of you!" James said as Mary came to a stop on the slide a few feet from the bottom. Remus, without even thinking, reached for her hand and pulled her off the slide and coincidentally right into him. She smiled a little and he smiled nervously back.

"Wow, Prongs, Moony's got better moves than you do," Sirius said, clearly impressed.

James covered his mouth. "I believe I told you to shut it. Now the question is whether Marlene will jump."

Sure enough, the last of their group came sliding down about ten seconds later with a shriek and slid right into Sirius. He pulled her up and she slapped him. "What the hell?" he demanded in shock.

"I thought you were dead, you idiot!" she exclaimed, and pulled him into a kiss. Remus looked away—Sirius and Marlene never really cared about the fact that the world was still turning and it was full of people who didn't like their singleness shoved in their faces. Finally, he cleared his throat and they broke apart.

"Anyway," James said, "it's about a five minute walk from here."

"What is?" Marlene asked, still holding on to Sirius.

"Hogsmeade," he said, and started to walk. "Padfoot, lead the way with me!" Sirius ran to join his friend. Remus could hear James say in a hushed voice so Marlene wouldn't hear, "Nice one, Padfoot." Remus rolled his eyes.

"You do that a lot," Mary commented, and he jumped.

"Do what?" he asked her.

"You roll your eyes a lot, and ignore them, and tell them they're crazy," Mary said. "Why are you friends with them if you're so different?"

"Well," he sighed, "someone needs to be sane in the Marauders, or they'd all be expelled or dead by now."

"The Marauders?" Mary asked him, smiling. "You guys have a name?"

"Uh, yeah," Remus said, blushing a little. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs."

"I've heard you call each other those," she said. "But why?"

He panicked momentarily. What was he supposed to tell her? They were all Animagi? "Just... random nicknames," he said, shrugging. She nodded and they walked in an awkward silence the rest of the way.

The second they entered Hogsmeade, they heard screaming and James ducked a spell going over his head. He stood back up and looked at the others.

Maybe this wasn't the best idea.

**Please review, you're amazing, okay bye.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hellooooo! I don't own anything and please review and enjoy! :)**

"Wands out," James said immediately. Everyone obeyed, pulling them from pockets and bags, instinctively forming a circle. They looked around; the storefronts had their shutters pulled up, the doors clearly magically protected, the occasional person's eye peeking through the cracks. There were people, all in black robes, casting spells, seemingly at each other. Some of them would inexplicably jump up into the air, and some of them left white smoke trails while others left black ones. Once, a rogue spell came their way again, and Sirius yelled, "PROTEGO TOTALUM!", causing a grayish-purple field to cover all of them. The spell bounced back towards its owner, who ducked, and the battle continued. Eventually all the figures leaving black smoke flew off into the sky. One of the white trail figures ran up to them, now protected by their Shield Charm, and said, "Get out of here. You shouldn't even be here! Go!"

Remus knew that voice. But whose was it? It was a boy, and not that much older than them... but who?

They didn't need telling twice. Sirius let the Shield Charm disintegrate and they all ran as fast as they could back to the edge of the town.

"We've got to use a different passage this time, Prongs," Sirius said.

"Yeah, we can't climb up that slide!" Mary suddenly squeaked.

"Oh, my God, I didn't even think of that!" Marlene exclaimed. She hit Sirius on the arm. "You're such an idiot!"

"I just saved your life!" he protested. "That spell was coming straight for you, and somehow I don't think it would cause puppies and butterflies!"

"I wouldn't need saving if you hadn't dragged me along, and jumped down a bloody black hole—"

"How are you even together?" Remus asked them.

"Shut it, Moony!" Sirius shouted as James started to walk towards Honeydukes.

"Where are you going?" Mary asked him.

"Yeah, is this the time for cauldron cakes?" Marlene asked him incredulously.

He smiled charmingly and Remus shook his head. How he did it, he might never know, but James Potter could make anyone feel like his best friend—except, for whatever reason, Lily Potter was immune. He knocked on the shop's door and the owner tentatively opened it. He was a large man, the kind you wouldn't necessarily expect to own a sweet shop, and Remus immediately regretted following James. He found himself feeling that quite a bit, to be perfectly honest.

"James, maybe this isn't the best—" Peter said nervously, but James waved him off.

"What do you want? You aren't with them, are you?" he asked them.

"No, sir," he said, turning his charms on yet again and further astounding Remus as the shopkeeper became immediately more warm-looking. "I'm James Potter, and these are my friends. We were just trying to get some candy, because we've been studying all day long and just wanted a break. We don't really feel safe out there now, but if you would just let us sit in your store maybe, that would be wonderful. We'll go back to the castle when we're sure that they won't come back. Please will you let us stay for a while?"

The shopkeeper smiled at him and said, "Of course. All of you come in. This has been a horrible week. Help yourself to a couple things if you'd like, too."

"Horrible week?" Remus asked as James and Sirius descended upon the Bertie Bott's shelf.

"Oh, yeah, we've got Ministry goons running around inspecting everything, and now we've got fighting in the streets. They're interviewing us, you know—now they bought candy from me when they were schoolboys, I don't know why they don't trust me all of a sudden, just because of—well, you know about them."

"Who?" Remus asked. The man raised an eyebrow.

"You don't know?" He shook his head. "Mostly young kids, call themselves the Followers. Don't know who of, exactly, but they seem kinda—I don't know, brainwashed. They're spewing propoganda stuff, sounds too good to be true if you ask me, but... whatever. I think they were fighting amongst themselves out there, to be honest. Creepy kids. Hey, I've gotta get some stuff from the back, okay? I'll tell you more in a minute." The man left for the storeroom, and James sat up, stuffing the remains of the box of beans in his pockets.

"Come on, let's go," he said, and kicked open the cellar door, pulling a protesting Remus down after all the others. He wanted to know what the man was talking about. But he didn't have a chance, because by the time the man came back out, Sirius was closing the cellar door behind all of them.

"Now what are you doing? We're stuck in a basement now," Marlene said. "If I get expelled, we are definitely over," she told Sirius. He just grinned. Remus sighed. If only they would just tell Mary and Marlene what they were doing before they did it...

They could hear the man's protesting voice coming from the first floor, and James and Sirius moved a few crates to reveal a gaping hole in the wall.

"And he's never noticed this?" Mary asked in shock.

"You'd be amazed at what people don't find when they aren't looking," James said, and made a gesture toward the hole. "Ladies first."

"Is this another slide?" she asked.

James rolled his eyes. "Yes, it's a special underground tunnel that magically brings you back to ground level. No. Just go." She walked through the hole, glaring at James, and Marlene followed her. Peter followed them, and Sirius entered fourth. James and Remus stepped through together, pulling the boxes back into place after them.

"Do you have to be so mysterious and mean to them?" Remus asked him.

"Well, no, but it's fun," he said. Remus looked at him in a way that clearly stated that he wasn't joking. James sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I'll play nice, Moony. I know you don't want to scare your girlfriend."

He sighed. Jokes aside, he was glad that he was the one who could tame James Potter. Someone had to, and he was glad it was someone with a relatively sound mind.

"Why is it that I'm the one who can turn into a murderous monster once a month and I'm the sane one?" Remus asked him in a quiet voice and James laughed.

"Because being as uptight as you are means that you need to release your anger every once in a while. And you do that, to the extreme," James said.

"It's not exactly my fault, now, is it?" Remus said bitterly.

"Hey, I'm just kidding, Moony," James said.

"Yeah, I know." They kept walking. When they reached the castle, Marlene turned to face the Marauders and smiled somewhat mockingly.

"Well, as much as I love a good near-death experience, I think Mary and I have seen enough. We're going to the common room. Are you coming? Please say no," she said, glaring particularly at Sirius.

"Padfoot and I are coming," James said, and Sirius nodded. "But I don't know about Moony and Wormtail."

"Um, I think I actually am going to study for that test," Peter said. "Remus, you coming to the library with me?"

Remus looked at Peter, then at Mary, and sighed. "I think I'll go with Padfoot and Prongs. Sorry, Wormtail. I'll come with you tomorrow morning if you want."

"Yeah, okay," Peter said quietly, and opened the door to exit the passage. The remaining five looked at each other and raced to the common room.

James won, as always, though he was impressed that Marlene nearly beat him.

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked them. She observed their dirty, disheveled clothes. "Where on Earth have you been?"

"Narnia," Mary said, clearly annoyed. "The password's Hippogriff. Let us in."

The portrait hole swung open and Remus looked at her in confusion. "What is Narnia?" he asked her.

"It's a Muggle thing," she sighed, walking straight to the chess table by the fire, sitting down in one of the plush armchairs that were arranged around it. "Want to play, Remus?"

"Sure," he said, sitting down across from her. James and Sirius whistled and he glared as James plopped down on the couch, Sirius sitting next to him. Marlene sat in front of the couch and Sirius began to play with her hair. At first she smacked his hand away, but after a minute or so, gave up and leaned back into him, staring at the fire with a soft smile on her face. Marlene and Sirius fascinated him; they fought entirely too much to be a nice couple, but they seemed like they really loved each other sometimes. So what was going on with them half the time?

He decided that he wasn't going to care, and settled down into his game with Mary, trying to ignore what the man had told him until he had time to think.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello! Hope you enjoy, I don't own it, etc. etc...if you review and follow I'll love you forever... please? :)**

"Where have you all been?" a voice demanded in a shrill tone a while later. "You know I've been marching around the castle for hours? What happened to you all?" James looked around to see Lily standing behind him, hands on her hips, and glaring at him.

"Ah, the voice of an angel," he said sarcastically. "Music to my ears."

"Shut it, Potter. Where were you?" she repeated.

"Hogsmeade," he said.

"Why?" she asked. "How?"

"For fun, and none of your business," James said. She sat down near Marlene, still glaring at James. "Admit that you're in love with me," he told her.

"Excuse me?" she exclaimed.

"Random much?" Remus added.

"Shut it, Moony," James said.

"They really do tell you to shut up a lot, don't they?" Mary said as he turned back to their third game, James and Lily continuing to argue in the background while Sirius and Marlene completely ignored them (and the rest of the world, including some slightly shocked first years near the staircase).

"I suppose," Remus said. "Knight to E3."

"Queen to E3," Mary said. They both watched, slightly bored, as the queen brutally murdered Remus's knight.

A third year boy came bursting through the portrait hole, looking as if he'd run a marathon. James stopped arguing with Lily as he walked towards them.

"All right, Gideon?" James said, but the boy ignored him and walked right up to Remus.

"Madam Pomfrey wants to see you, Remus. She says it's important."

Remus jumped out of his chair, making Gideon jump. "Oh, that's just great," he muttered. Of course he'd forgotten, with all the excitement. He checked his watch. He still had about two hours, maybe a little less. "I'm coming." He ran out without any explanation, but he knew that his friends knew.

He ran down the corridors, knocking over a group of second year girls and apologizing as he kept running, all the way to the hospital wing on the sixth floor.

"Remus Lupin! Did you happen to _forget_ you turn into a murderous wolf once a month? TODAY?" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed the second he had closed the door.

"Sorry, Madam," he said, looking at the floor. Adults seemed to like humility. He was trying to emulate James—something he never thought he would consciously consider to be a good idea. But it worked-Madam Pomfrey sighed and stopped lecturing him.

"It's okay, Remus, just be more careful next time," she said, and handed him the first flask. He swallowed it, shuddering as the unpleasant taste hit him. He always managed to convince himself that the tonic wasn't actually as bad as he'd thought. "Right, we'd better go, then," she said.

They opened the door to the hospital wing and there was a first year boy standing in the door, cradling his arm. Madam Pomfrey sighed and handed Remus the satchel she had been carrying over her shoulder. "It's got the next two doses in it," she whispered to him. "Just… take one in about an hour, it will start to induce the change. After that, take the second one when it hurts. You should be fine, just get back in the castle the next morning somehow, I know about all the other passages and I think that Dippet told you about them in case of emergency, correct?" Remus nodded, slightly nervous.

"Are you sure, Madam? I mean… can I do it myself?"

"You're sixteen, boy, you'll be all right," she said. "But at the moment, I have Skele-grow to administer. You'll be fine, Mr. Lupin." She ushered the very confused boy into her office and handed him a bottle of nasty-looking stuff that Remus could smell from there. He wrinkled his nose as he closed the door. As he ran down the staircase, he clutched his stomach at the growing pain inside of him. In the entrance hall, he was about to go through the door to the grounds when he bumped into a figure that seemed to appear from nowhere.

"Sorry," Remus said, going around the person to get to the door.

"What have you got there, boy?" a voice that was clearly an adult's asked him. His eyes widened as he looked up and realized that he knew who it was-Millicent Bagnold, the Minister of Magic, a tall, intimidating woman who did not look at all amused.

"Ah, Minister Bagnold, this is Remus Lupin, one of our best students," Headmaster Dippet said from behind her.

"What is he carrying so quickly outside of the school after dark?" she asked, clearly in want of an answer. "We've had smuggling problems at this school before, Armando," she added, and Remus cursed James and Sirius's stupid schemes in fourth year that ended in a 'severe warning' from Dippet.

Dippet looked at Remus and he looked back with an expression that clearly told him what was going on. He looked up at the sky secretively, and that was all the prompting the headmaster needed. "Ah, Minister Bagnold, Mr. Lupin is working on a project for Herbology, is that correct?"

"Yes," Remus said immediately, having an idea. "Yes, Professor Sprout wanted us all to try to plant something in the gardens and grow it ourselves. I've got food and water for my plant in the gardens in this bag."

"And what are you growing?" she asked him. He panicked.

"Um, I'm growing dittany. Yes, which reminds me, Madam Pomfrey told me I'm to handle it alone when I… harvest it, Mr. Dippet, sir," he said pointedly, attempting to express why he was alone.

"Yes, very well, off you go, Mr. Lupin," Dippet said, and Remus took that as his cue to run as fast as he could across the grounds. He reached the Whomping Willow before it saw him, and as it took its first swing, he looked around frantically. Where was the knob? he thought in a panic, but then he remembered and leaned against the tree as the branch swung past him, right onto the correct knob. The tree froze in mid swing, and Remus jumped through the hole a few feet away. He hoped that the Minister hadn't continued to look in his direction.

The next twenty minutes was spent in the tunnel, longer than it should take because of the pains that were growing more and more unbearable. As soon as he reached the hole out of the tunnel, he climbed out into the abandoned house that was now called the Shrieking Shack (which he had to admit, he took credit for, he used to scream in first and second year, but by the third year, he knew that it did him no good) and sat down on the bed in one of the rooms. It creaked, dust spilling out from between the covers, and as soon as he could he had downed the second flask of the potion. The pain ebbed away but was back in just a couple minutes. He didn't want to take the third potion yet, because it meant that he was out of time, but he knew that he should even if the others-oh, they were there. He looked up and smiled slightly as the large black dog and the tall stag bounded through the passageway, a little rat scurrying behind them. Sirius, James, and Peter. How they got away from the girls and how they told Peter was beyond him, but he was glad that they were there.

He swallowed the third potion hesitantly and gasped as it went through him, the pain in sharp focus now. But he knew that the third dose wasn't a painkiller, it induced the process. He was changing.

He felt it before he saw it. He hated this part-he could feel all his human emotions being crushed by something much more savage struggling to break free. Then he saw the fur sprouting, the claws growing-and he felt it, oh God, did he feel it. He twitched and moaned slightly as he turned completely from human to wolf.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi! Please review and follow, I don't own anything, and... yeah. Enjoy! -Kelly**

The next morning, he found his clothes in a neat pile on the bed and a few pieces of toast. He rolled his eyes. He kept telling them not to break into the kitchens, that he could wait for breakfast, for Christ's sake, but they never listened. There was no reason for them to be up at ungodly hours just to get him some toast.

Remus entered the castle through the fourth passage and emerged in the entrance hall, where a few students looked at him questioningly. He even heard a Ravenclaw girl whisper to her friends, "Was he here a second ago?" He grinned as he walked up the steps to the portrait hole.

The Fat Lady regarded him with disgust. "What have you been up to this time, Remus?"

"Hippogriff," he sighed.

"It's changed now," she said smugly. "I announced it last night. You would've known if you hadn't been out doing God knows what…"

Remus sighed and walked away. "Aren't you going to guess?" she called after him, almost sounding offended.

"Nope," he said. "I'm going to actually be productive and ask somebody." He ran down to the library where he guessed—and was correct in guessing—that Mary would be.

"Hey," he said slightly shyly, sitting across from her.

"Hey," she said, smiling. "Where did you run off to yesterday?"

"Um, nowhere," he said uncomfortably. "Do you know the password?"

"Oh, it's, um, Devil's Snare," Mary said. "Do you want to study?"

"Oh!" Remus said, suddenly remembering his promise. "I actually will be back after I find Peter, okay? I promised that I'd come here with him today, but he's in the common room, I bet. I'll be back, okay?" he asked her and she nodded, smiling and returning to her book. He ran out of the library and back up to the common room. "Devil's Snare," he said, breathless.

The Fat Lady smirked. "That's better," she said, swinging open, and he entered the room, finding the others in the common room just as he thought.

"Hey, Peter, do you want to go to the library now?" he asked him. Peter perked up considerably.

"Oh, sure! I didn't think you'd remember with all the… stuff," he said. "Great! Let's go!" The two boys walked out of the common room as quickly as Remus had come.

"That's all?" The Fat Lady exclaimed.

"Just picking up Peter," Remus told her, and she sighed.

"Teenagers," she said, sniffing in distaste. They walked towards the library. On the way there, they heard chuckling from inside an empty classroom.

"Hello, Peter," a voice said from inside. Remus saw unmistakeable fear in his friend's eyes. "How are you?"

They came out of the room—Dolohov and Avery, seventh year Slytherins that had a reputation for bullying and general scariness. "H-hi, I'm fine," Peter squeaked. They looked at Remus and smirked.

"We don't want any trouble, Lupin. Get out of here," Avery said.

Remus pushed Peter further down the hallway and said, "Wormtail, go to the library." He turned to the two boys. "I don't think I will, actually," he told them.

"You asked for it," Dolohov said, shrugged, and drew his wand. Before he could even point it at Remus, light exploded from further down the hallway and Dolohov hit the floor, apparently paralyzed. Remus looked for the source and grinned at Peter. Avery started to take out his wand, but Remus got to his first, and pointed it at him.

He said, "Get lost, Avery." He did, scurrying out of their way, leaving Dolohov motionless on the floor. "Come on, we can get out before it wears off," Remus said, and he and Peter ran all the way to the library.

"We could get in big trouble!" Peter whispered as they sat back down at Mary's table. She looked up in exasperation.

"Oh, dear God, what have you done this time?" she asked them.

"Peter put a leg-lock spell on Dolohov," Remus said, still a little high on adrenaline.

"And Remus threatened Avery and scared him off!" Peter added.

"What?!" Mary exclaimed.

"To be fair, they attacked first," Remus said defensively.

"Oh, for Heaven's sake," Mary sighed. "You could get expelled for fighting like you do."

"Haven't done it yet," Peter said.

"I know, Mary, but it's not really our fault," Remus said, laughing. His smile faded and he frowned. "I'm turning into James, aren't I?"

She smiled. "Yes. It's not very attractive."

He grinned. "Are you sure?" He really was turning into James…he wasn't sure if it was a good thing.

She looked down a little, her smile growing. "I don't know, maybe I'm wrong," she said.

Peter looked at both of them. "Guys? I'm right here," he said, and Remus snapped back to reality.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "Well, um, you really should've told us if they've been bothering you."

"They haven't, though," he said. "That was the first time they even talked to me. I mean, Avery was looking at us with Mulciber and Snape yesterday, but…"

"Oh, yeah, that was really weird," Mary said, sounding concerned.

"Not really for them," Remus said. "Normal, honestly, for them. Though usually after they're talking about you you end up in the hospital wing."

"Are you sure you're okay, Peter?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. He didn't look it at all, though, and all Remus wanted to know was what they wanted with him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello! Please review and follow, and I don't own anything, and... yeah. -Kelly**

"I can't believe that you're nervous," Sirius said two weeks later. It was Halloween, and there was going to be a dance that night in the Great Hall, and James Potter was sweating as he attempted to button his dress robes.

"I'm not nervous!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, we've had dances before, James," Remus added, adjusting his collar. He looked down in disgust at the horribly out of style robes that his mother had sent him—James, Peter, and Sirius looked fine, but he looked like a dishrag.

"It's not that it's a dance," Sirius said, "it's that it's a dance that Lily Evans will be attending. Alone."

"Alone?" he asked with interest. "I thought she was dating Eric Bones."

"They split up," Peter said. "About a month ago. Maybe that's why she's always in a bad mood when we see her."

"She's in a bad mood when we see her because James is in the vicinity," Remus sighed. "Honestly, Prongs, give it up. She's never going to go out with you."

"Yes, she will," James insisted. "She just doesn't know it yet. It's sort of sad, really."

Remus snorted. "Yes, because she's missing so much." James lunged for him and was stopped by Sirius. He grinned as he was pushed back to the mirror and began fumbling with his buttons again. After several painfully silent seconds, he was ready, and started to pick up Peter's comb from the side table.

"Oh, no," Sirius said, grabbing it out of his hands. "We really do not have time to fix _your_ hair."

"Says Sirius," James muttered, eyeing the curly mess that had been somewhat tamed by gel earlier, and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"We're going now," he announced. "Well, you three can stay up here as long as you want, but I have to get Marlene." He grinned as he ran down the stairs. Remus found himself rolling his eyes yet again. After Mary's comments, he had been noticing how much he did that, and he had to admit that it was rather often.

Remus, James, and Peter went down to the common room two minutes later and found Mary and Lily standing off to the side, exasperated, and Sirius and Marlene at it once again.

"Padfoot! You can wait a couple hours, can't you?" James called from the base of the stairs and Mary giggled as Sirius broke away from Marlene to run at James. Remus ran down to them and pulled James out of the line of fire as Sirius attempted to punch him.

"Oi! I need my charming smile!" James protested, and Sirius snorted as he grinned.

And then he stood up a little straighter. Remus followed his gaze and saw, without much surprise, that he had seen Lily. Her hair floated all around her face and almost to her elbows. She wore a black dress that went to the floor and shimmered slightly in the right lighting. Remus had to admit, she did look beautiful. He was looking more at Mary, with her knee-length green sleeveless dress and long blond hair that had him speechless. But he could see James's reasoning, of course.

Lily noticed after a second. "What are you looking at, Potter?" she asked him harshly, a little too quickly.

"Nothing…" he stammered. "It's just… you look beautiful."

She blushed bright red and turned quickly, almost running through the portrait hole down to the Great Hall.

"Do you want to go down now, Remus?" Mary asked him. Remus's eyes widened. Wait… she thought he was going… with her?

"Um, I'll be right there, I'm just going to talk to James for a second…" he said, grabbing a very indignant James and dragging him halfway up the stairwell. "What the hell?"

He grinned a little. "Umm… surprise?"

"Did you tell her I was going with her?" he demanded.

"Yeah," he admitted. "She likes you, Moony!"

"I am wearing a dishrag!" he shouted, and groaned when he heard giggling from the common room.

"You look fine, mate. And she doesn't care, she's fancied you since second year, you've just been blind. Go on, then," James urged him, gesturing impatiently towards the bottom of the stairs. Remus groaned and went back down, putting on a smile to mask his terror.

"Okay, let's go," Remus said. Mary smiled and led the way out of the common room. Behind him, Remus could hear James offering his arm to Lily and her hitting him over the head. He snickered as Sirius and Marlene came out of the room behind them.

When they reached the Great Hall, Remus looked around in awe. They'd had dances in the Great Hall before, true, but he could never quite get over the total transformation. The tables were gone, but there were even more floating candles then usual. Also, there were floating jack-o-lanterns and the ghosts were happily flying around—Remus looked for Nearly Headless Nick before he realized he was at his death day party… how long ago was it this year? 485? He couldn't imagine hanging around any school that long, even if it was Hogwarts. There were instruments near where the staff table usually is that were playing themselves, and the whole place looked like a rather macabre ballroom. Sirius and Marlene immediately ran to go dance. Peter nervously shuffled around and one girl, Maisy Abbott, waved at him, making him go red. Mary smiled at him and his heart leapt. James grinned at Lily and she stepped awkwardly another step away from him.

This was going to be interesting.

Three hours later, Remus was about ready to say that this was the best night of his life. Sirius and Marlene had amazingly kept the PDA to a minimum (though Remus hadn't missed the half-hour-long 'walk outside'). Peter had even gotten around to talking to Maisy Abbott, a feat Remus hadn't thought possible.

He had thought the night was winding down, when the instruments began a slow song.

Remus's heart was pounding in his chest. Mary was looking at him expectantly, and he managed to say, "Do you want to dance?"

She smiled. "Yeah." He led her out to the dance floor, where Sirius and Marlene were already there. Sirius gave him a discreet thumbs-up when Marlene and Mary both weren't looking. Remus looked at Mary and smiled a little. She smiled back and he felt very strange all of a sudden.

"Moony," Sirius whispered after a few seconds.

"What?" Remus asked, annoyed.

"Look," he said, pointing to the edge of the floor. Remus looked and he couldn't believe his eyes.

James and Lily were coming towards them. And they started to dance.

Sirius's eyebrows shot up the second James looked their way. Lily saw, too.

"It's just one dance. I just didn't want to come here and not have danced at all."

"Okay," Sirius said, smirking in disbelief.

Mary laughed awkwardly and said, "Do you want to get away from them?"

"Uh, sure," Remus said, and they awkwardly shuffled over to a different part of the floor. They didn't speak for the rest of the song, and Remus occasionally looked over to James and Lily to see James talking and Lily rolling her eyes. Business as usual, except for the addition of dancing. Remus genuinely didn't know what to make of that. He hoped James wasn't right, because he'd been so adamant that he needed to forget about Lily that if he was wrong, James would never let him hear the end of it.

"So—" Mary started to say. but then the music stopped and the whole Hall went dark. And there was a scream from the hallway.


End file.
